Congratulations to the fall semester recipients of the Dr. Barbara Anne Battelle Excellence in Scientific Communication Award - Lauren Kunselman, Seaver Lab (Graduate Student Winner) and Dr. Federica Scucchia, Martindale Lab (Postdoctoral Research Associate Winner) Read More

In this issue, Alicia Boyd and Elaine Seaver investigate anterior and posterior regeneration potential in C. teleta larvae. Read More

Congratulations to Whitney Laboratory Ph.D. student Lauren Kunselman from the Seaver Lab for a 2nd place poster award at the 2023 Florida Genetics Symposium. Read More

UF Whitney Laboratory biologists show how a segmented marine worm found locally in muddy estuaries gradually gains the ability to regenerate during its life cycle. Their results highlight how developmental timing impacts the ability to regenerate missing tissues and structures, introducing a new angle on how regenerative abilities can change across time and hinting at potential mechanisms that could in theory be useful for switching regeneration on and off. Read More

The Southeast Regional Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology will be September 29 - October 1 in Mobile, Alabama. Read More

This project utilizes the favorable properties of this marine animal to provide a unique opportunity to experimentally investigate the relationship between germline and somatic stem cells and emphasizes the value of studying a diversity of animals to understand major trends in animal evolution. Read More

Seaver initiated two new research collaborations as a result of this trip, and used her expertise to help both junior and established participants establish research priorities and problem solve technical challenges in each of their study animals. Read More

Congratulations to Seaver Lab graduate student and sci comm blogger Lauren Kunselman for her recent blog post on Dr. Mikhail Matz's research on DNA methylation in invertebrates, "Epigenetics -Mikhail Matz- letting the data lead" for the blog affiliated with the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB). Read More

Congratulations to Dr. Elaine Seaver, Professor of Biology and Whitney Lab faculty, who published an article entitled ‘Sifting through the mud: A tale of building the annelid Capitella teleta for EvoDevo studies’. This special volume highlights emerging animal models for Evolution and Development research. Read More

The research done by Boyd and Kunselman in the Seaver Lab represent important early steps for understanding the basic biological principles of regeneration and restoring regenerative potential when and where it has been lost. Read More

Congratulations to Dr. Elaine Seaver and Dr. Danielle de Jong who recently published a paper in Genes entitled ‘Regeneration in the Segmented Annelid Capitella teleta'. Read More

If you missed our Sip 'N Science recently with Dr. Elaine Seaver the webinar is now on our YouTube channel. Read More

Join us for our March Webinar! Tracking animals has historically been a major focus throughout the millennia, whether for obtaining food or understanding environmental fluctuations, and much has been learned by merely watching. The same can be said about looking at small things, such as cells in an embryo. Dr. Elaine Seaver will give examples of important principles of normal embryo development by simply ‘watching’ cells move through space and time. Read More

In their new publication entitled ‘Functional evidence that Activin/Nodal signaling is required for establishing the dorsal-ventral axis in the annelid Capitella teleta’, Dr. Lanza and Dr. Seaver used recently developed tools for embryos of the annelid Capitella to perturb the function of molecular signals that might be the organizing activity signal. Read More

Congratulations to Whitney scientists Dr. Elaine Seaver and Dr. Mark Q. Martindale for their collaborative research recently published in Nature Communications. The paper is entitled ‘Genes with spiralian-specific protein motifs are expressed in spiralian ciliary bands’. Read More

Congratulations to recent Whitney Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Alexis Lanza and Whitney Laboratory's Dr. Elaine Seaver who recently published a paper in EvoDevo titled “Activin/Nodal signaling mediates dorsal-ventral axis formation before third quartet formation in embryos of the annelid Chaetopterus pergamentaceus.” Read More

Chaetopterus pergamentaceus or ‘parchment tube worm' is an annelid worm present in local coastal habitats that the Seaver Lab studies. It lives its entire adult life inside a soft U-shaped tube that is mostly buried beneath the ocean floor, and only the tips of the tubes are directly exposed to sea water. Chaetopterus is a great example of leveraging biodiversity to understand human health related questions. Read More

Congratulations to Dr. Marleen Klann and Dr. Elaine Seaver! Their recently published paper titled “Functional role of pax6 during eye and nervous system development in the annelid Capitella teleta” was nominated for the 2019 Developmental Biology Outstanding Paper Award. Read More

Congratulations to Whitney Laboratory Gator Grads Dr. Alexis Lanza and Dr. Casandra Newkirk. We wish you the best in your scientific career and further pursuits in science! Read More

Congratulations to Alexis Lanza who won Best Student Oral Presentation for the Division of Evolutionary and Developmental Biology at this year’s Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual conference! The title of Alexis’s talk was "Activin/Nodal signaling is required for establishing the dorsal-ventral axis in Capitella teleta”. Read More

Please welcome Lauren Kunselman to Whitney Laboratory! She recently joined Dr. Elaine Seaver's lab as a graduate student. Read More

Congratulations to Whitney Laboratory Ph.D. candidate Jessica Farrell and recent Ph.D. graduate Alexis Lanza for receiving the University of Florida International Certificate of Excellence at the 2019 International Student Achievement Award Ceremony on November 19. Read More

Alexis graduated with a PhD in Zoology from the College of Arts and Sciences, and defended her dissertation on Halloween Day. The title of Alexis’s dissertation is ‘Insights into the role of TGF-beta superfamily signaling in annelid dorsal-ventral axis formation’. Read More

Animals use their eyes to detect light. How do eyes develop? Are there similarities in how eyes develop in different animals? The Seaver lab recently published a paper investigating for the first time the role of a gene called pax6 in eye development in the marine worm Capitella teleta. Read More

Please welcome Katie Feerst to Whitney Laboratory! She recently joined Dr. Elaine Seaver's lab as a lab technician. Read More

Congratulations to the Seaver Lab for the recent paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B titled "CRISPR/CAS9 mutagenesis of a single r-opsin gene blocks phototaxis in a marine larva." Read More

Dr. Elaine Seaver was recently photographed in her lab as part of Savannah College of Art and Design student Emerson Scheerer's ongoing series entitled, “Women,” featuring environmental portraits of women of power. Read More

Please welcome Alicia Boyd to Whitney Laboratory! She recently joined Dr. Elaine Seaver’s lab to study regeneration in Capitella teleta. Read More

Have you ever wondered what a day is like working in one of the labs at Whitney Laboratory? Read More

In a recent study "in press" in the journal Developmental Biology, the Seaver Lab investigated the germline in the marine annelid worm Capitella teleta. Read More

A Seaver Lab article is featured on the cover of the journal Regeneration! The Seaver lab was invited to provide an image from its recently published article. Read More

Congratulations to the Seaver Lab for its paper published in the recent issue of Developmental Biology. Read More

The current issue of Developmental Biology features a cover photo and paper from the Seaver Lab. Read More

Congratulations to Stephanie Neal for being selected as the 2017 Whitney Laboratory REU Program’s poster contest winner. The title of Stephanie’s winning poster is Functional investigation of opsin in Capitella teleta. Stephanie worked with Elaine Seaver, professor of biology at Whitney Laboratory, this summer during the program. Read More

Congratulations to Alexis Lanza and Alex Hernandez for each being honored with an award from the Graduate Student Association of the University of Florida Biology Department. Alexis received the Michael L. May Research Grant for her work titled “Insight into the mechanism of embryonic organizer activity in axis formation of annelids.” Read More

Please welcome Dr. Linlin Zhang to Whitney Laboratory! Linlin is an evolutionary biologist fascinated by animal diversity. Her research combines both experimental and computational approaches to investigate molecular genetic mechanisms of phenotypic divergence and adaptation. Read More

Congratulations to Leah Dannenberg for successfully defending her master’s degree! Leah is a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at the University of Florida with Elaine Seaver as her mentor. Read More

Dr. Elaine Seaver, professor of biology at Whitney Laboratory, recently published a mini-review highlighting current research with her main study organism, Capitella teleta. Read More

Congratulations to Dr. Elaine Seaver, who has a new paper published online in the “Canadian Journal of Zoology.” The paper is a review that arose from an invitation for Dr. Seaver to speak at a symposium called “Spineless tales: development and evolution of invertebrates” co-sponsored by the Canadian Society of Zoologists and Canadian Science Publishing. Read More